FWC says nurse's 'attitudinal attribute needs to change'
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) recently dealt with an unfair dismissal case involving a worker terminated from work after alleged concerns with her performance toward patients’ safety.
In its defence, the employer argued that it had a valid reason for the worker’s dismissal as her actions ran the risk of leading to adverse outcomes for patients.
Safety concerns
According to the Commission, the worker was employed as a level ‘N2’ registered nurse at the Northern Territory Department of Health prior to her dismissal.
Around December 2022, the employer issued the worker a show cause letter stating that specific concerns relating to competencies had not been demonstrated by the worker.
Such competencies which the worker had not met included the following:
- Ability to lead and co-ordinate client care resulting in positive clinical outcomes
- Work respectfully and collaboratively within the multidisciplinary team
- Knowledge and application of principles in a healthcare setting
- Foster a positive workplace culture through exemplary leadership practices and role-modeling behavior
- Follows defined service quality standards, Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) policies and procedures relating to the work being undertaken to ensure high quality, safe services, and workplaces.
Termination letter
While the worker provided a written response to the show-cause letter, she was formally dismissed by a written letter on 13 January 2023.
In its submission, the employer argued that there were safety concerns regarding the worker’s performance associated with administering medications.
It further argued that the medication errors were repeated and that the worker was prone to deflect responsibility for the mistakes or did not learn from them.
The employer also said that the worker demonstrated inappropriate behaviors in a clinical setting to the extent that her actions upset patients, their families, and her colleagues.
Despite such allegations, the worker argued that the reasons for her dismissal were “erroneous” and did not constitute serious misconduct to the extent that it harmed the welfare and safety of other employees.
She further argued that she learned her behaviors and professional habits from her colleagues and said those teachings ultimately led to her dismissal.
HRD previously reported about the case of an employee who was fired over a co-worker’s allegations that he “inappropriately touched” a client.
In another case, an employer was found guilty after a court found that it failed to prevent the exposure of its clients and staff to health and safety dangers in the workplace.
FWC’s decision
After examining the case, the Commission was satisfied that the worker was not unfairly dismissed as the employer had valid reasons to terminate the worker’s employment.
Concerning the medication errors of the worker, the Commission noted that the administration of medication is a core duty and competency of a nurse. Hence, the employer needs to have confidence that its nurses can perform this function.
“Relevantly, patients need to have confidence that their nurse is not going to detrimentally affect their health due to avoidable errors or incompetence,” the FWC said.
“Clearly, the [employer] and the [worker’s ] patients could not be confident that the [worker] possessed this competency,” it added.
The Commission also noted that the worker’s behavior of finding fault with her coworkers instead of taking responsibility for her mistakes is an “attitudinal attribute which she needs to change.”
